Method of cementing the walls of a hole.



W. B. WIGLE. METHOD or GEMENTING THB WALLS oF A HOLE.

APPLICATION FILED 00T. 16, 1909.

Patented Apr. 1, 1913.

WILSON '.B. WIG-LE, 0F SANTA MARIA, CALIFORNIA.

` METHOD F CEMENTING THE WALLS OF A HOLE.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 16, 1909. Serial No. 523,061.

To all 'whom it may concern Be it known that I, W'nLsoN. B. WIGLE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Santa Maria, in the county of Santay Bared a new and useful Method of Cement-ing the Walls of a Hole, of which the following is a specification.

Heretofore a method of shutting off water from oil wells has been practised which consists in injecting liquid hydraulic cement into the annular .space between the .waterbearing wa-lls and the well casing by inserting into such well casing, tubing p-rovided at the lower end thereof with a packer having an opening therethrough to admit liquid from the tubing to the space inside the well below the packer; said packer being of such diameter and construction as to close the casing and thereby prevent the liquid from --rising in the casing, the said injected hydraulic cement being forced up within the annular space between the inside casing and thewalls of the well. lVhen said cement has reached the required height, the water is then forced down the tubing to displace the cement in the tubing; and when the operator assumes suchY displacement has occurred, the casing is lowered to the bottom of the well thereby shutting off connection between the interior of the casing and the space outside the casing, thereby preventing the cement outside the casing from flowing back intov the casing. Then the water supply is shut voff and the tubing with the packer Xed thereto is withdrawn from the Casing. Certain difficulties that arise in said old method' of cementinv the well may be enumerated as follows: l.) The cement is liable to leak past the packer and become set inside the casing above the packer, thereby cementing the packer fast so that it cannot be withdrawn when the operation above described has been performed. (2.) In case such cementing of the packer does not occur and the operation is successfully performed f to the point at which the operator assumes that the cement has been sufficiently forced out of the easing into the annular space, it sometimes occurs that/ the operation 1s stopped too soon thus leaving an amount of cement inside the casing and also inside the tubing so that when the tubing and the acker are withdrawn a quantity of cement is left in the bottom of the well where it becomes set and is an obstacle to the ow therethrough.

ofthe gas or oil. I overcome these objections Vand perform the operation with less labor and expense by omitting the packer at ltheubottom of the well and providing a bara and State of California, have inventpacker at the top of the well and then operatingin the manner which Iwill now describe, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which y Figure l is a fragmental elevation partly in section showing an oil well and means for c ementing the same by my newly invented method, the view being taken at the time the inside casing has been filled with water and the release valve is open, the air having escaped and the water having begun to flow The pump is shown diagrammatically and on a reduced scale. Fig. 2 is a view analogous to Fig. l but taken at that period of the operation when the release valve has been closed and the water has begun to flow out of thetop of the outside casing. Fig. 3 is a View analogous to Figs. l and 2 illustrating the stage of process at which the annular space between the casing and the walls of the well have been filled to. the appropriate height 4with cement. The water has been pumped down the tubing suiiiciently to displace the cement in the tubing, and the casing is about ready to be lowered. Fig. 4 illustrates the operation immediately following that illustrated in Fig. 3 when the casing has been loweredI to prevent the cement from flowing back into the casing and the release valve has been opened, and water is being vpumped down the tubing to wash out from the bottom of the well any'remaining cement before it becomes set. A small portion vof the liquid cement is shown-ready to be washed out. Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmental axial section of the hollow plug and parts connected therewith.

In this novel method, I line the walls of the hole with artificial stone by providing a chamber bet-Ween the well casing and the tothe inside of the casing and from the top of the chamber outwardly to the external Patented Apr. 1,1913.

lwalls of the hole, providing an opening from the bottom of said chamber inwardly forcing said charge of cement up into the i chamber from below by pressure on the surface of the cement inside the casing.

In order-:to cement an oil well by my newly-invented method. and means the well hole 1 will be driven in the usual way, the upper portion thereof being cased, as is customary, with the outer casing 2 which is sunk as lou' as convenientor desirable. T hen the inner casing 3 is inserted and sunk as the work of sinking the well progresses, and this is performed in the usual manner of boring water, oil and gas wells. The casing 3 is of less diameter than the hole and is spaced apart. from the walls of the hole to form a chamber between the casing and such walls, there being an inward opening from such chamber below the `casing so that liquid cement may be forced into the chamber and upward therein by. pressure applied to the surface of the cement. in the chamber.

Then the inside casing has been sunk to the depth assumed to be below all the water strata, tubing 4 will be inserted and lowered in the inner casing unt-il the lower end of the tubing is nearly at the lower end of the inner casing 3, and the bo-re of the inner casing 3 will be closed by a hollow plug 5 having a release valve 6 at one. side and having an orifice? in its top through which the tubing 4 is extended. A packing ring 8 for said orifice '7 is provided around the tubing 4 and is held in place by a washer 9 which in turn is held down by a collar 10 screwed on to the top of the tubing 4 and connecting said tubing with a' fitting 11 into which a pipe 12 discharges. The weight of the tube holds the packing sealed. Said pipe 12 is connected with a vpump 13 by' which liquid may be pumped through the pipenrnd litting into the tubing. A pressure gage 14 is provided in the pipe to indi! cate the hydraulic pressure applied to the top of the tubing.

The apparatus above described constitutes the means for conducting the process now to be described. Y

It usually occurs that the lower end of the casing" 3 is plugged by accumulations 15 of clay Vor other earthy material in the well. Tol conduct the operation of lcementing the water strata the operator will first open the release valve 6 and will pump water through the tubing 4 into the inner casing 3 .until the water practically ills the inner casing and the hollow plug, and tlows from the release valve 6. He will then close the valve andthe pumping will be continued until the pressure in the tubing is suilicient to-break through the obstructions 15 around the inner casing and wash the obstructing material out through the top of the outer casing as suggested in Fig. 2. The water supply is then shut oft' from the pump and liquid hydraulic cement 16 is supp ied thereto, and lthe pump operated to force said liquidl hydrauliccement 16 down through the tubing 4 to the bottom of the inner casing as indicated in Fig. 3. The release valve 6 being closed and the liquid cement being heavier than the water which fills the inside appropriate height as indicated at 17 in Fig. 4.

The operator may determine by the indicator of pressure gage 14, approximately the height to which the liquid cement rises around the inner casing; and when he is satisfied that the appropriate height has been reached, the pump will be cut oti from the liquid cement supply and will be connected again with the source of water supply. Then the pump will again be operated until the hydraulic pressure exerted through the water in the tubing forces the liquid cement down out of the tubing and up into the space between the inner casing and the walls of the hole.

For convenience, during lall the process hereinbefoe described, the inner casing has been supported by the usuall elevators 18 by which the inner casing will now be lowered to the position shown' in Fig. 4, to shut o the passage from the, inside to the outside vof the inner casing and the pump may then be stopped. When the inner casin has thus been lowered, its lower end resting 0n the bottom .of the hole, the pump 13 may again be operated with the release valve 6 open and the water pumped down through the tube 4 to wash the liquid cement out from the bottom of the hole and up between the inner casing and up through the inner casing thus preventing any accumulation of any cement at the bottom of the hole.

It is understood that this invention may be used in any case where it is desired to cut oli from the well any stratum the product from which is desired; as, for instance, in artesian wells, strata bearing one character of fluid may be cut off 'from strata producing pure wat/er ora-ny other desirable iuid produced by lower strata. It is also understood that other liquids than water may be employed lto form the packing inside the casing. 4

-I claim: v

The method set forth of cementing the walls of a hole, which method comprises forming an annular chamber adjacent said walls, yformin an annular space within said annularcham er, pumping iuid into the annular space, closing.v the annular space against the atmosphere, increasing the 1,057,789 Y s',v

liquid cement to Vthe 'bottomA of the an- Intestimony wheieof, IY have hereunto; set Y nular spacev4 until it rises to the appropriate Ymy hand at Santa Maria, California,

height in the annular chamber, and again 8th day of October, 1909.

pumping fluid into the annular space to WILSON B. WIGLE. l 5 force all of' the liquid cement down out of In vpresence othe annular space and up into the annular Y GEO. V. WABREN,' I 

